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Sir: One of psychiatry’s emergencies is the evaluation of
a patient brought to the emergency room after a suicide attempt.
To collect all relevant clinical information in this scenario,
I have used a mnemonic that is modeled after the ABCs
of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (A—Airway, B—Breathing,
C—Circulation). The alphabet is easily recalled even under the
busiest of circumstances.

The ABCs of suicide is informed by the need for a patientspecific
formulation using Mann and colleagues’ stressdiathesis
model of suicidal behavior1.​​​​